HealthSource Chiropractic Focuses on Injuries, Rehab

Compared with The Joint, a large chiropractic franchise that focuses on maintenance care, Ohio-based HealthSource Chiropractic is different, geared toward patients with fresh injuries looking for progressive rehabilitation treatment.

“There’s room for two different models in our profession,” said Dr. Chris Tomshack, CEO of HealthSource. “We offer the best of the best chiropractic care, the modern techniques, but what we do really well is marry that to what we call progressive rehab, which is a functional rehabilitation model.”

Founded in 2006 and now up to 300 franchises, HealthSource is one of many franchised medical care providers that’s seeing exponential growth as the category expands alongside the traditional, establishment medical providers.

“Eighty percent of people that are doing heroin today started off with prescription narcotics because they had a real injury and, sooner or later, they ended up addicted,” he said. “Well, we’re an alternative, because what we do from a rehab model is so effective.”

With a goal of eliminating injuries that morph into chronic conditions, Tomshack said the goal is combining immediate and ongoing spinal care with a physical rehabilitation program that can prevent injury recurrence or magnification over time.

Comparing his brand’s approach to what he called “old-school chiropractic where they’re going to print off some Xerox copies” of at-home exercises, HealthSource put serious effort into developing and evolving its treatment approach to provide a wide range of treatment in 1,800-2,200 square foot facilities that can be operated with as little as two employees.

Tomshack opened multiple facilities on his own before diving into franchising, which was a good fit for the “systematized” approach to patient care, and opening and running the business that he developed before franchising the concept.

Looking at the total size of the massive U.S. health system, he speculated that chiropractic would take a much larger share of the country’s health spend if it adopted best practices that are built into the HealthSource system.

While HealthSource does provide routine chiropractic adjustments, with some visits lasting just five minutes similar to other franchised players, its patient rehab services tend to last 35 to 40 minutes and don’t require a chiropractor’s hands-on treatment. HealthSource does accept insurance payments, in contrast with some brands that completely eschew insurance involvement.

Asked about unit-level profitability, Tomshack said an average clinic in the system brings in approximately $495,000, with gross profits near $252,000. As it seeks to quickly expand, the brand is set to open 25 new clinics and is on track for 48 new franchisees during 2017. Looking ahead to 2018, HealthSource plans to add units in Canada, while also expanding into Europe.

As it hunts for new franchisees, Tomshack said approximately 90 percent of its locations are owned by chiropractors, which is a good fit since they understand the business and “what it takes to achieve a very high level of success.”